Monologue

Gardener Monologue from Richard II

From Richard II by William Shakespeare

male · contemplative · 1:45 min

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Hold thy peace. He that hath suffered this disordered spring Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf. The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves did shelter, That seemed in eating him to hold him up, Are plucked up, root and all, by Bolingbroke— I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green. (SERVANT: What, are they dead?) They are. And Bolingbroke Hath seized the wasteful King. O, what pity is it That he had not so trimmed and dressed his land As we this garden! We at time of year Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit trees, Lest, being over-proud in sap and blood, With too much riches it confound itself. Had he done so to great and growing men, They might have lived to bear and he to taste Their fruits of duty. Superfluous branches We lop away, that bearing boughs may live. Had he done so, himself had home the crown, Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down. (SERVANT: What, think you the King shall be deposed?) Depressed he is already, and deposed ’Tis doubt he will be. Letters came last night To a dear friend of the good Duke of York’s That tell black tidings.

About this piece

The Gardener reflects on the neglect of the kingdom under King Richard II, lamenting the lost potential and the consequences of mismanagement, drawing a parallel to the care of a garden.

40s · sadness · power · loss · responsibility · nature

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